Push for P-plates until 25

Jared Lynch

Push for P-plates until 25

A senior academic in road safety supports the police push for new drivers to refrain from drinking until the age of 25.

Forcing young drivers to remain on probationary licences until the age of 25 would cut Victoria's road toll, says the state's top traffic police officer.

Under the move, young adults would have to drive with a zero blood alcohol level for an extra three years, or for the first seven years of solo driving.

Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill, who wants the community to consider making the change, said 40 per cent of people aged 20 to 25 who were killed or injured on Victorian roads every year were victims of drink-driving.

The road toll by age since 1987.

Mr Hill said medical research showed that the brain did not develop fully until the mid-to-late 20s, particularly the part that controlled decision-making.

''What I'm advocating is a community discussion about considering extending the graduated licensing system to 25 in order to save the lives of our young people,'' he said.

The push has won support from a leading road safety researcher and from Victorians affected by road trauma.

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Bruce Corben, senior researcher at the Monash University Accident Research Centre, said the evidence was ''pretty clear'' for keeping young drivers on a zero blood alcohol level for longer.

''There's a number of aspects about driving skill and attitude that start to show impairment well before people reach 0.05,'' Dr Corben said. ''There is nothing magical about 0.05, that by staying below it you're safe.''

Dr Corben said that before Victoria introduced random breath-testing 30 years ago drink-driving had accounted for 50 per cent of the road toll, and while that figure had dropped significantly it was creeping up again.

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''We managed as a society to bring it to about 22 per cent, but now it's back up around 25 per cent,'' he said.

''We haven't made any impression of alcohol involvement in killed drivers for quite some years now. If we go the next step, we have to start looking at more radical approaches, I suppose, but again approaches that are justified in terms of the scientific evidence.''

Dr Corben said Sweden, which was renowned for its road safety, had lowered its blood alcohol limit for all drivers from 0.05 to 0.02 in 1990, resulting in ''quite a marked reduction in alcohol-involved deaths among drivers''.

The number of alcohol-related road deaths in Sweden had plunged from 31 per cent of the toll to 18 per cent within seven years.

''The advantages of having a clear-cut zero BAC or 0.02, which may be the more effective practical limit, is that the message for drivers is absolutely clear,'' Dr Corben said. ''It takes away any ambiguity about 'am I below the limit or not' and the errors people make in judging whether they are OK to drive when they are not.''

A total of 2837 people aged 18 to 25 died on Victorian roads between 1987 and 2012. This age group accounted for more than a quarter of all road deaths despite making up only about 12 per cent of the population.

''I don't think young adults have that sense or fear factor in them until they are about 25,'' Ms Richardson said. ''I think we do need to keep these restrictions on them, not to annoy them, because I'm sure that's what they think, but until they can develop into looking into the future and seeing that consequence, then I think we need to keep their environment safe.''

TAC chief executive Janet Dore said the commission would continue to speak to young drivers through a range of programs. ''You have got to do it in a way that's not lecturing but really resonates and gets the community on board and, in this case, young people to take responsibility for safety.''